PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Philadelphia, the birthplace of the Boy Scouts, will be evicting the organization from the Scouts' city-owned meeting hall over a gay-rights fight.
The Philadelphia Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the seventh-largest chapter of the organization, will be tossed from the Beaux Arts building, a place they have called home since 1928, for refusing to denounce the organization's ban on homosexuality.
The city owns the half-acre of land where the building stands and is bound by laws against discrimination.
"You cannot be in a city-owned facility being subsidized by the taxpayers and not have language in your lease that talks about non-discrimination," City Councilman Darrell Clarke told The New York Times Thursday. "Negotiations are over."
The Boy Scouts have maintained that homosexuality would be inconsistent with their stated values. They could have legally stayed in the building if they paid an annual rent of $200,000 per year; however they said that would cut into their summer-camp funds for needy children.
